EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION (1952-70)

Egypt was part of the ancient Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; however, by 1882 the British had occupied Egypt. The British conquest of Egypt was aimed at controlling and securing the Suez Canal, in order to collect funds and pay the European financiers of the Suez project. Egypt became officially a British protectorate during World War I.

In 1922, the British granted Egypt a Pseudo (theoretical) independence. Practically, the British continued controlling the economy of Egypt and significantly, the Suez Canal. The Egyptian monarchy remained solely dependent  on  the  British  for protection,  and  for military  and economic aid. King Farouk who succeeded  his father Fuad in 1936 ensured the continuity of the status quo of British influence in the Egyptian monarchical affairs).

The leadership of King Farouk was characterised by corruption and economic and social hardships with a remarkable gap between the rich and the poor. During World War II,  King Farouk allowed the Germans (of Axis powers) to establish their military camp of the (Afrika corps) in the Northern port-city of Alexandria, at a time when the British (of Allied powers) were operating a military base for their eighth battalion in the Canal Zone. This was one of the reasons  that prompted the formation of the Free Officers Movement (or Society of Free Officers) under the architecture of a young military officer, Abdel Gamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat. Sadat joined the German Afrika Corps but was captured by the British.

Gamal Abdel Nasser had the ambition to overthrow the monarchical system and establish an Arab Republic without influence of the British. The free army officers’ became stronger and committed after the defeat of a collective Arab resistance against the newly created Israeli Nation in the Palestinian crisis of 1948-49. The surviving free army officers of the Palestinian war blamed King Farouk for supplying them with inadequate essentials and inferior arms.

The free army officers upon' return from Palestine established a special committee (the revolutionary command council) with Nasser Abdel, Anwar Sadat and Mohammad Neguib as the influential figures.

The revolutionary command  council sighted many socio-economic, political and religious problems during the reign of Farouk, which forced them to organize a coup de'tat. The free army officers set  1954 as the year for the coup but the local intelligence network of king Farouk acquired information on a planned military coup by a section of the army and arranged to arrest the coup plotters. In order to pre-empt the proposed arrest over treason charges, the

free officers staged their coup on the night of July 22, 1952. The coup was bloodless and faced a feeble (weak resistance. The coup was not only aimed at overthrowing a puppet monarch but specifically to do away with British domination that had defiled the Egyptian Islamic nation for many years.

The causes  of the Egyptian revolutionary coup were political, social and economic and included the following.

Reference Questions'

a)  Account for the downfall of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952

b)  "The 1952 Egyptian coup was inevitable." Discuss

c)  To what extent did King Farouk contribute to the collapse of the Egyptian monarchy?

d)  How far were the weaknesses  of the Egyptian monarchy responsible for the 1952 coup?

e)  Assess the role of the society of free officers in the 1952 Egyptian coup

f)  Examine the contribution of Gamal Nasser to the outbreak of the Egyptian revolution

g)  "Political factors were responsible for the downfall of King Farouk." Discuss

h)  "The British colonial legacy was primarily responsible for the 1952 coup in Egypt." Discuss

Political factors:

1.  The character and personality of king Farouk made the 1952 revolutionary coup inevitable Farouk's  leadership  was  full  of  despotism  and  autocracy.  Farouk  was  never  a constitutional  king  and  his  word was  absolute.  He interfered  directly  in  leadership appointments  to  the  senate,  and  even  at  the  grassroots.  He denied  the  Egyptians democratic rights like freedom of expression.' he censored mails (posts and telegraphs), he  censored  the  press  and  banned  political  opposition  activities.  This  increased opposition against the king even within the army, causing the 1952 coup.

2.  The king was generally a weak leader. Due to lack of political charisma, the king could not stand to his word to implement government policies. Foreigners especially the British and Turks were so influential in his political decisions. He hardly did anything to prevent his foreign compatriots from exploiting the masses.  According to the members of the free officers’ movement, the king lacked mutual respect for his authority. His leadership was dogma  and  he  thought  that  his throne was  untouchable. Nasser  hence  organised a revolution to oust (overthrow) the puppet king.

3.  The government of king Farouk was corrupt: apart from embezzling government funds, there was a lot of bribery even in the courts of law. Bribery in most cases  put the political situation beyond imagination. Acquiring a job in the civil service was impossible unless one dug deep into their pockets. The courts of law were run through buying justice, as those accused could not survive without paying court officials through the back door. This made many peasants  to give in the little they had for fear of being detained. The only answer to such injustices according to Nasser was a revolution.

4.  The Egyptian colonial history influenced the 1952 revolution. Egypt had long-term colonial j domination by the Persians, Greeks, Turks and later the British. For much of the period, Egyptwas part of the vast Turkish Empire as a mere province before the British forcefully occupied her in  1882.   All  these  processes  of changing  foreign  authority aggrieved Egyptians who despised the 1922 independence as  not genuine. They condemned the continued exploitation  by the  British.   The 1962  military  coup  was  hence  aimed at achieving a genuine independence in Egypt.

5.  Consequently the continued domination and privileges enjoyed by the British in Egypt alarmed the revolutionaries.  The British influenced political decisions of the government of king Farouk and held positions of influence in the army. They controlled the Egyptian foreign policy and worst of all, the British had a share in the Sudanese government yet Sudan was meant to be fully controlled by Egypt. The British exploited Egypt through encouraging cash crop production at the expense of food crops. They instead promoted small-scale  industries  in  Egypt  as  a  way  of  creating  market  for  their  industrial commodities. This British neo-colonial influence in the Egyptian society influenced the military to effect a coup.

6.  Equally so, the continued control of the Suez Canal by the foreigners made the downfall of king Farouk inevitable. The Suez Canal project was one of the major sources of Egyptian revenue and being in the hands of the British and the French led to income repatriation: Egypt could only get a small share of the canal revenues. Nationalists like Nasser desired to nationalize the Suez Canal in order to make the government of Egypt have full control of the Suez Canal revenues.  This was however, possible if king  Farouk was out of the Egyptian political scene.

7.  The grievances in  the Egyptian army influenced the free army officers to organize a military coup in 1952. The army faced many unfavourable conditions: it was one of the weakest of all sectors in Egypt.  The army officers experienced irregularities in military and food supplies, poor housing am meager pay. The army was ill-trained and ill equipped with inferior weapons, which the revolutionaries claimed led to their defeat in the Palestinian war. There was a lot. of favouritism in the promotion to the army ranks where the British and the king had great influence. To make sabers  worse, the British enjoyed privileges in the Egyptian army. This forced the army to turn 1^3 against the government in order to change the situation.

8.  The weakness of the WAFD party caused grievances among the masses.  The party was dominated by the wealth families and failed to represent the grievances of the majority peasants  and  the  small  bourgeoisie  (middle  class).  The party  and  its  government especially under Prime Minister Nahas Pasha  failed to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, and collaborated with King Farouk to promote British interests in Egypt. Members of the WAFD party enjoyed a luxurious life, owned large chunks of land and enjoyed many other privileges. This annoyed poor peasants  who condemned the activities of WAFD members and hence supported the revolutionaries against king Farouk and the WAFD party government.

9.  The Arab-Israeli conflict (Palestinian war) of 1948-49 was one of the immediate causes  of the Egyptian revolution. Since the proclamation of the Israeli nation in 1948, the Arab world immediately went to war with the Zionist nation. The Arab countries were not happy that Palestinian  land  had  to  be  divided  to  accommodate  the  Jews that  were previously scattered  all over the world.  A joint Arab force was established and led by Egypt to fight alongside  Palestine.   However,  Israel  supported  by USA  and  Britain  defeated  and humiliated the Arabs in 1949. The free army officers blamed the Arab defeat on king Farouk's government  that  gave  the  Egyptian  army inferior  weapons  and  inadequate essentials. One officer, Colonel Ahmed Abdul Aziz, "The  soldiers  should remember the real battle is at home."

10. The unilateral  violation  of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian  treaty caused  the 1952 coup that overthrew King  Farouk. The unilateral  violation  (rebellion)  was  an  anti-British  policy adopted by Nahas the prime minister of Egypt: Nahas aimed at forcing the British out of the Suez Canal zone in order to appease  the masses who constantly demanded for the withdrawal of the British from Egypt. This forceful attempt against the British made them to retaliate by assaulting Ismailia on January 25, 1952. The British assault left about 49 police officers dead, the water supply destroyed and some shelters of the inhabitants of the town were shattered. This tragedy wasblamed on king Farouk and Nahas’ government and caused the army to overthrow a government.

11. World War II had a hand in the 1952 revolution. During the course of the war, king Farouk blundered by allowing the German Afrika corps to establish their military base in northern Egypt commanded by General Rommel. At the same-time, the British had used their long presence in Egypt to establish their base for their eighth battalion in the Suez Canal zone making Egypt, a war theatre  since the British belonged to the allied forces while the Germany led the axis alliance. The end of the war led to increased spending and corruption by King Farouk, which increased suffering of the fellas (peasants).  The presence of the British and the Germans in Egypt during World War II led to the rise of the society of free officers who organised the coup of July 1952. Anwar Sadat one of the free officers had participated in the war on the side of Germany.

12. The emergency of ambitious Abdel Gamal Nasser was a turning point in Egypt at the time Nasser's personality and his ambitions for power and reforms made him to organize the coup in July 1952. He resented exploitation of peasants, which developed his nationalism as a 19 old. Such an early age, he used to organize demonstrations against the British and Egyptian monarchy. He abandoned  his  academic pursuit  for law to  join  the  military academy in 1937. As teen, he had sighted that Farouk's government was ineffective and corrupt and wondered who would change such leadership.

a)  Born in Alexandria on January 15, 1918 to a noble family, Nasser was dynamic that during school time he always identified himself with the poor students who enlighten him on the poor conditions they experienced.

b)  In 1942, the British troops rounded up king Farouk's palace and influenced Faroui appoint Nahas Mustafa Pasha  as Premier, which angered nationalists like Nasser the following year in 1943, Nasser attained a rank of captain. He started making secret preparations and mobilisations to form the free officers’ movement which would later stage a coup to overthrow king Farouk.

c)  Consequently,  the  British  influenced  king  Farouk  to  dismiss  Nahas  Pasha  from premiership. The dismissal of Nahas annoyed Nasser and influenced him to criticise the king, leading to his imprisonment.

d)  While in prison, Nasser wrote articles including one through which he wondered, "where Egyptian nationalism and destiny of the Egyptians were hiding." On coming out of prison Nasser identified himself with the suffering masses in the peasantry, police, the army and other sectors. This enabled him to gain support when he formed the free of movement alongside Sadat and Neguib. This movement did much to effect a fundamental change in Egypt in July 1952.

13. The formation and the role of the free officers’ movement. The movement was established in 1942 during World War II as a sign of dissatisfaction among some of the Egyptian army officers like Nasser and Sadat. Nasser had the desire for a fundamental change, mobilised a small loyal section in the army and laid down strategies of overthrowing king Farouk. Later in 1952, the free officers established a revolutionary council to oust king Farouk whom they blamed for political incompetence and perpetuation of British neo-colonialism. The free officers’ movement staged coup on the night of July 22, 1952 which brought an end to monarchism in Egypt.

14. The declining position of Egypt in Arab politics made the downfall of king Farouk inevitable.

During the reign of king Farouk, Egypt was inactive in Arab affairs. The continued presence of the British in the Suez Canal zone led Egypt to Ipse her position of influence in the Middle The British  took charge of the region  and pre-determined  the Egyptian  foreign policy as a means to safeguard British interests and to encourage Jewish influence in the Middle East at the expense of Egypt. The climax came with the defeat of a collective Arab force (with Egypt) in the 1948-49 Palestinian crisis. King Farouk was blamed for providing his army with inferior weapons and reluctantly sending his soldiers the necessary logistics while in Palestine.

Social factors:

15. The king practiced nepotism as he favoured only his relatives, members of the royal family and friends. The fatty and lucrative jobs especially in his government went only to his relatives and members  of the WAFD party. Such nepotism was also witnessed in the allocation of position of influence in the army,' in the early July, 1952 premier Mustafa Nahas proposed the appointment of Neguib as the minister of war and defense but king Farouk rejected the proposal, appointed his relative to the post and went ahead to dismiss Nahas from the premiership. Hence, it took the army to organize a coup in order to reverse this nepotism.

16. Consequently, there was provision of inadequate social services during the reign of king Farouk. The few social infrastructures available were poor and could not provide quality services for better social welfare of the Egyptian society. The available education institutions were based  on the British education system  with English as a medium of teaching. The health centers were also few concentrated in urban areas like Ismailia, Cairo and  Alexadria.  The military  coup  was  therefore aimed at  solving the  socio-economic problems in Egypt.  It should be noted that due to poor health services, the Egyptians died of common diseases like Bilharzia, Malaria, and etcetera.

17. The social stratification (class differences) in Egypt caused grievances among the masses.

The social pyramid was dominated by peasants  and a small bourgeoisie at the bottom; on top was a small section of the members of the royal family while in the middle were foreigners especially the British and the Turks. These social inequalities were so pronounced as members of the royal family and foreigners dominated the political posts with an upper hand in the economic activities. The royal family and foreigners owned between 65% and 82% of the arable land and enjoyed privileges such as tax exemptions. This influenced revolutionaries like Nasser to stage a coup in order to destroy the social inequalities in Egypt.

18. The emergency and influence  of the Muslim  brotherhood in Egypt influenced  the over throw of king Farouk. The Muslim brotherhood emerged by 1927 under the influence of Hassan Al Banna (a qualified elementary teacher) who emphasized the revival of Egypt to an  Islamic  theocratic  nation.  Members  of the  Muslim  brotherhood  intensified  their activities between 1946 and 1951 especially condemning moral decadence that involved womanizing and gambling in casinos where king Farouk was a great participant. The brotherhood provoked the arrest and murder of some members including Al Banna who was  assassinated in  1949. The principles of the  Muslim brotherhood even after the assassination of its leaders influenced the revolutionaries to organize a coup in 1952.

19. The appaling  social-economic  conditions  during  Farouk’s  regime  made  his  downfall inevitable. The peasants  (Fellahin) were exposed to unfair taxation, forced labour and worst of all they experienced acute unemployment and abject poverty. The king could do nothing  to  rescue  the  peasants  from this  untold  situation.  Consequently,  the  fellas continued suffering as the royal family, the wafdists and foreigners enjoyed good life. In this case, nationalists like Nasser emerged with socialist ideas aimed at improving the socio-economic situation in Egypt.

20. The religious and cultural conflicts in Egypt favoured the overthrow of king Farouk. The existence of the British who promoted western cultures and spread Christianity threatened the existence  of Islam  and Arabic cultural  practices.  There were established  industries that produced alcohol and many recreation centers. All these were contrary to the Islamic and Arabic principles, where Christianity competed favourably with the Islamic religion. This socio-cultural set back was blamed on king Farouk and hence made his downfall eminent.

21. The famine outbreak increased the anti-Farouk resentment in Egypt. Following the end of World War II, the fellahin found themselves in a prjecaridus situation that did not enable them to sustain their families with food. This was a result of lack of enough cultivable land, while those  that had small  pieces  of land  sold  them to large  landowners.  King Farouk could hardly do anything to solve the food crisis, yet the government policy favoured cash crop intensive farming for export.

22. King Farouk ignored the status  of women in Egypt. The Egyptian women were politically marginalized, had no political participation nor did they enjoy leadership responsibilities. Hardly  could  young women acquire  education  and  a  few who did  only  attain  basic education. The most  severe  treatment  of women by Farouk's regime was  the death penalty on women for sex immorality. It is for this reason that women supported the coup against Icing Farouk.

Economic

23. King Farouk was  extremely  extravagant and lived a lavish  life. He spent  much of the money from the Egyptian treasury on satisfying his desires, which included pornography, prostitution and womanizing. Not only did he spend much of his time in leisure, king Farouk was a prominent gambler and hardly a day could pass without him visiting casinos. It was much of his mannerism that influenced the free army officers to organize a coup in 1952.

24. The low levels  of industrialization  caused  economic  problems  that made  the Egyptian revolution inevitable. The Egyptian industrial sector was largely controlled by the British who instead promoted small-scale industries at the expense of large-scale manufacturing industries. The British never promoted industrial production as a way of creating market for their industrial commodities. Lack of industrial development in Egypt led to scarcity of essential commodities, caused unemployment and low levels of development.

25. The high levels of inflation caused the downfall of the regime of King Farouk. King Farouk and the WAFD government failed to solve the economic instability, which was largely a result of economic mismanagement, high corruption and foreign control of the Egyptian economy. The prices of essential goods were unstable and relatively high for the peasants to afford. The Egyptian currency almost lost value and was dominated by the British pound. This justified the need for a revolution.

26. The persistent unemployment levels led to the 1952 Egyptian coup. The peasants  and the middle class citizens were affected by the acute unemployment that grossly resulted from the poor land tenure system, favouritism of King Farouk and continued foreign domination of the Egyptian economy. The revolutionaries claimed that the coup was not just a result of political ambitions but also the desire for socio-economic reforms that could empower the grassroots Egyptian population.

27. The existence of monoculture in Egypt influenced the desire for a revolution. Egypt largely concentrated  on growing  and exporting  cotton against  other agricultural  opportunities. This restricted the agricultural activities in the end, which affected the contrary's revenues. On the contrary, the government policy emphasised cash crop production at the expense of food production. This agricultural policy  in Egypt was influenced by the British but caused suffering of masses.

28. The poor land tenure system promoted by Farouk's government prepared fertile grounds for his downfall. The king dictated the land policy where he distributed land to members of the  royal  family  and  the  Wafd party members,  who enjoyed a  lion's  share  with  the prevailing  unfair land tenure system. By 1945, the peasants  found themselves in abject poverty due to lack of cultivatable land. By 1952, 65% of the arable land was owned by only 6% of the landlords  mainly from the royal family. The landlords  subjected  the Fellahin (peasants) to feudalism and serfdom. This influenced them to support the coup in 1952.